" a bizarre competition"

For now, that’s all Octavian Belu has to say about the
upcoming World Championships. "No one can tell what will happen at these World
Championships. In my opinion, there are no clear favorites in the individual
competition, nor in the team event. It will be a bizarre competition, due to all
the new rules being introduced, but mostly because of the new COP," said Belu.

The Romanian team that will compete in Gent from Oct
27-Nov 4 consists of 7 gymnasts Andreea Raducan, Loredana Boboc,
Sabina Cojocar, Silvia Stroescu, Carmen Ionescu, Monica
Sabau and Andreea Ulmeanu. "Only 7 gymnasts who train at Deva are age
eligible for Worlds. All of them will go to Gent, but only 6 of them will start
the team competition,” explained Belu. Only 5 of the 6 gymnasts will compete on
every event and the top 4 scores will count towards the team total [in the
prelims]. For the first time ever at Worlds, 8 teams will qualify for team
finals, instead of 6 as before.

Octavian Belu said his team does not have any definite
goals for the competition. "We don’t have any set goals. After 4 World titles,
we’ll try to stay on top. It is important to note that 80% of our team has
changed [since the Olympics]. Everything will depend on the young gymnasts’
ability to replace the ones who left the team."
The Romanian delegation will leave for Belgium on October 23rd.